In an investor presentation this week, Viacom CEO Tom Freston told Wall Street to expect double-digit revenue and operating income and even higher earnings per share in the coming years due to organic growth at the newly split media conglomerate. While Freston said no major acquisitions would be needed to spur growth, "our long-term vision includes a social-networking platform," he said--a la MySpace.com. With no such social network in Viacom's impressive repertoire of content holdings, Viacom may have to acquire its way into the territory currently being dominated by Rupert Murdoch and company. Freston told investors Viacom is in talks …

Online ads actually motivate cynical 18- to 34-year-olds to go out and buy stuff, a new survey of college students and recent grads says. The "2006 Online Advertising: Habits" survey from Experience, Inc. finds that 52 percent said they purchased something based on an online advertisement, while 34 percent claim that online advertising is the most effective way to reach them. Nearly 100 percent said that they'd purchased something on the Web. About 41 percent said contextual ads relating to the content being read or viewed increase the likelihood they'll notice an ad. Thirty-four percent said a contest or promotion …

A free speech group accused Yahoo of divulging to the Chinese government the e-mail and user name information of a man who wrote essays detailing local corruption. The man was later incarcerated. The group, Reporters Without Borders, said Chinese court documents show that Yahoo helped authorities put away Li Zhi for 8 years for "inciting subversion." After discovering the court documents, Reporters Without Borders demanded that the Internet firm release a list of all cyber-dissidents about whom it had given information to Chinese authorities. Yahoo did not comment on the allegations, but the company has publicly admitted to handing over …

Meg Whitman, eBay's chief executive, says the four dominant Internet companies--Google, Yahoo, eBay and Amazon--will increasingly focus on their core competencies rather than attempt to move in on each other's territory. Whitman sees eBay continuing to specialize in e-commerce, payment and voice communication, while Google will continue to stand for search, Yahoo content, and Amazon retail. eBay will only compete with these companies on the "fringes," she says, while each companies' core business will remain specialized. Whitman's views are somewhat contradictory to those held by many industry observers. Google, for example, plans to move into online classifieds through the recently …

In a case testing the possible legal liabilities facing purveyors of online marketplaces, a Chicago civil rights committee is suing community classifieds site Craigslist for allegedly publishing discriminatory advertisements. The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law contends that online classifieds sites should be held to the same strict standards as print publishers--meaning every ad should be vetted to conform to the law. However, as the Chicago Tribune points out, the Internet has not developed according to these standards: informal communities tend to police themselves, and free expression and anonymity are valued. The lawyers' committee cited over 100 ads …

When The Legend of Zelda, the first major role playing video game, was released about twenty years ago, no one would have thought that by 2006 gamers would actually be able to earn a living off their virtual second lives by selling virtual goods in a growing and maturing virtual economy. Meet Jennifer Grinnell, a one-time furniture delivery dispatcher in Michigan who recently transformed herself into a top fashion designer in the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) Second Life. In her shop, Mischief, Grinnell sells digital clothing and "skins," which allow users to change the appearance of their …

As Forbes.com columnist Chris Kraeuter says, "What's worse than spam...? Perhaps the methods e-mail systems use to fight it." Kraeuter argues that AOL and Yahoo's plan to charge marketers who send bulk messages to users will do nothing to cut down on the amount of spam sent to users. In fact, it will do little more than provide an added revenue stream for AOL and Yahoo. What it does, instead, is "raise the participation bar" for legitimate marketers, newsletter writers (such as ourselves) and others who actually have a reason to get in touch with you. Goodmail, the e-mail company …

Internet search giant Google, rumored to be working on developing its own private Internet network, warned broadband providers like AT&T and Comcast that the variety of Web sites could shrink if ISPs start charging companies for premium access to high-speed networks. Meanwhile, the Bell companies promised members of the Senate Commerce Committee that they have no plans to block Internet services. Congress is currently considering legislation to guarantee consumers open access to the World Wide Web. In particular, AT&T and BellSouth Corp. have suggested charging the likes of Google, Yahoo and Vonage for delivering content at high-speeds over their networks. …

An anti-malware developer says the spyware problem worsened significantly in 2005, as the number of programs tripled, became more sophisticated, and attached themselves to more computers in the U.S. than any other country. According to Boulder, Colo.-based Webroot, there were 400,000 spyware distributing sites and a global count of 120,000 different traces, or components, at the end of 2005. The latter number had tripled from the beginning of last year, the firm said, due to the increasing sophistication of spyware makers. The percentage of infected business machines also tripled, climbing from 2 to 6 percent. However, consumer machines remained the …

Thrillist.com, a boys-only e-mail service, sent its first paid e-mail to nearly 10,000 subscribers today. The company, which launched its site in late October, has gained a big following among young men in New York City, by deploying a business strategy in the same vein as DailyCandy, another e-mail service with over a million users targeting mostly women. In honor of Valentine's Day, Femmegems, a jewelry store, is Thrillist's first advertiser. It is the first of several advertisers, including American Apparel, that have bought space on the start-up email service, which targets men between the ages of 21 and 35. …